A Box of Chocolate and a White Ribbon
by Kieno0324
Summary: Naru and Mai celebrate Valentine's Day in their own special way. NaruxMai oneshot Happy Valentine's Day everyone


Hello, people! I don't know the Valentine's Day traditions in Japan so I'm sort of merging two different traditions I've read about. You'll see what I mean if you've heard of the traditions and if not, well it makes for a fluffy story, or so I've been told! Enjoy!

Mai loved to cook. Her favorite food to cook was chocolate so it only made sense that her favorite holiday, besides Christmas, was Valentine's Day. She had gone to the store and gotten all the ingredients for the homemade chocolate recipe her mother had taught her when she was a child. Making the chocolate was one of the few things that Mai did so that she could remember her mother before she had passed away. And besides, Mai loved seeing the looks on the faces of her loved ones when she handed them a box of homemade chocolates and the looks on their faces when they realized they were actually good.

Mai shook her head as she gently stirred milk into the large pot that she was making the chocolate. Not only did she have to make it for her friends but for everyone that hung out at SPR. That included Naru, Lin, Ayako, Monk-san, John, and yes, even Masako was going to get chocolate for Mai. Mai didn't like the psychic, probably because of how she hung all over Naru, but she wasn't going to be mean and give everyone else chocolate.

She looked at the recipe before she put the lid on the pot. She went to the bags and pulled out the molds that she had bought to pour the chocolate in. She separated them out so each person had each mold. She wondered briefly if Naru had ever gotten chocolate when he was still in school and she giggled. He probably had if he had kept his mouth shut. She smiled gently as she wrote out the name tags for each box before stopping at the box she would be giving Naru. She paused before smiling and instead of writing Naru on the tag she wrote Kazuya.

"Bet he'll never expect that!" she said triumphantly. She could rarely surprise Naru but when she did she loved the expression on his face. His eyes would widen a slight fraction and his mouth would give the tiniest upturn at the edges. And she loved that look on his face because it meant that he was human like the rest of the people on planet earth. The timer on the stove dinged and Mai was soon caught up in the pouring and wrapping of her Valentine's Day gifts.

Mai was surprised when she entered the SPR office that everyone was there except two people. Naru and Masako were missing from the group. Mai shrugged, figuring Naru had gone out for a bit. She smiled and returned the greetings of everyone before passing out the chocolate. Lin's confused expression was priceless when she handed him the box before he looked down at it and for the first time Mai saw the dark haired man give a small smile before he thanked her.

"Wow, Mai, these are really good, where'd you learn to make chocolate?" Monk-san asked before he popped another piece into his mouth and Ayako watched him with a raised eyebrow. Mai shook her head before entering Naru's office and placing his box on his desk, accidentally knocking something off. She bent down to get it before gasping as she saw what it was. A white ribbon. In Japan, if a girl gives a box of chocolate to a boy she likes and the boy likes her back he gives her the white ribbon. Mai picked the ribbon up and placed it back onto the desk before looking out his window and freezing.

Down on the street was Naru and Masako. Masako was holding onto him as they entered a restaurant and Mai felt her heart stop. That ribbon was meant for Masako. With her head bent, Mai reentered the main room before going to the door. She looked back at Lin who looked worried over her sudden mood change as did everyone else that was in the office.

"Tell Naru I called in sick!" she whispered before she ran out of the office with no one noticing the tears in her eyes. She ran down the steps, desperate to get out of the office before Naru and Masako returned to the building. She froze in the lobby as she saw them enter the sliding doors. She turned and saw the door leading down into the basement and dashed inside. She sat down on one of the steps and put her hands over her face as she could no longer hold the sobs in.

'I'm such an idiot! I should have just refused the job! I wouldn't have made such a fool of myself!' thought as the tears continued to trail down her face. When she was sure that Naru and Masako had made it to his office she opened the basement door and slipped out before exiting the building. She thought it couldn't get any worse than it already was, that was until it started snowing like a blizzard.

Naru watched the blizzard outside with a growing sense of wonder that was abnormal for him. He had seen few snows during his time in the Shibuya District and most of the time they had been small snows that had no accumulation even worth mentioning. But this snow storm had already snowed an inch and was working on the second inch. Lin had gone home and everyone else had left shortly there after. But Naru hadn't.

When he had returned from his 'outing' with Masako, she called it a date and he called it a chore, he had entered his office to find a box of chocolates on his desk with his real name written in Mai's handwriting. He had looked at the box before turning away and standing there for the next three hours watching the storm that had hit quite suddenly and Naru had a strange feeling that even though the others had told him Mai had called in that she had been there. How else did a box of chocolate get in his office with her handwriting on the tag?

He picked the ribbon on his desk up before placing it in his pocket and leaving his office. He made sure the main door was locked before he entered the doors of the elevator and rode down to the lobby. He exited the building and walked through the snow towards his house. The cold pierced through his jacket but it made no difference to him. The cold rarely affected him.

He fought his way through the snow storm as it continued to blow against everyone fighting their way home. He kept his hands in his pockets as he continued to keep his hand bent against the snow before stopping as he saw a lone figure sitting on a bench. He stopped and studied them a moment before realizing it was Mai. He approached her and she looked up as he dropped his coat over her shoulders with wide eyes. She stood up as she saw who it was and she glared at him before he grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard.

"What do you think your doing, sitting here in the snow?!" he growled at her as he shook her once more before she pushed him back with her eyes on fire and he returned the glare full force.

"Don't you dare act as though you care, you narcissistic man! Don't you dare! You go out on a date with Masako and you expect me to remain alone in the office on Valentine's Day? Think again, you wretch! I hate you! I hate you, Naru!" she turned her back on him before gasping as he turned her around and his lips collided with hers forcefully and she stood there unresponsive before he pulled back and she looked at him as he stared down at her with his usual cold expression before he turned and started to walk away.

Mai touched her lips, still in shock. She watched him go before she realized that her bangs were no longer in her face. She reached up and felt something holding her bangs back. She pulled it out and brought to her face and gasped. In her hand was the white ribbon that had been on Naru's desk. She looked up at the dark retreating figure trying to figure out what it meant.

"NARU!!" she screamed and he turned around to look at her before mouthing something and she felt her eyes widen even more as she read his lips. 'It wasn't a date.' There were many words that he could have said that would have made her just as happy as she stood there watching him walking away but those were the perfect words. She smiled down at the ribbon before tying it back into her hair and turning towards the train station to go home.

'Happy Valentine's Day, Naru. Aishiteru.' she thought before running as fast as she could, not noticing how Naru had stopped and turned once again to watch her. He gave a smile that she would never see but could compare to her dreams. Maybe one day he could actually tell her that one word, but for now they were both content with what they had, a box of chocolate and a white ribbon.


End file.
